Harry Pride, Year Two
by DarkScales
Summary: Cub and the Pride are back at Hogwarts, but old Dumblybore and Christopher Potter are determined to make him pay for last year. Meanwhile, everybody's convinced that he's the Heir of Slytherin, and the fact that Flare looks just like an unusually colored cobra isn't helping at all. Oh, dear... Sequel to Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Could-Speak-to-Pokemon.
1. Summer Vacation

**So, this is the sequel to Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Could-Speak-to-Pokemon. Um, not really much to say, other than yes, the new character introduced is indeed your rival from Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. And that this is kind of a filler until I can get them to Hogwarts, when is when the real fun starts. Enjoy, and please let me know what you think!  
**

**And if you're a new reader, please read "****Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Could-Speak-to-Pokemon" first, because otherwise you will not understand a thing that is happening. Thanks!**

******Disclaimer: Um, do I have to? Yes? Dangit. Anyway, considering I'm not even British... no. I wish.**

* * *

"Roadtrip!" Devil howled gleefully as Cub magically packed his bags with a wave of his hand. We had decided to take a month-long trip to Sinnoh, and revisit the Pride's homeland. Even though some of our species, such as Flare and Draca, were primarily found in Kanto or other regions, Sinnoh was where we had all met and formed the Pride, as well as where we'd met Mewtwo on his travels and, later, Cub. Hence the reason we considered it our homeland.

"Everything packed? Food, clothes, weapons?" Koga asked as he entered the room. He and Aya would be staying behind to take care of the gym. Or rather, Aya was- Koga had recently been asked to become one of the Elite Four of the Indigo Plateau, to replace the previous poison-type master that had retired a few months before. Of course he accepted, and we'd all had a large celebration that lasted through the night and didn't end until three in the morning.

"Check, check, and check. Relax, it's not as if this is the first time I've gone traveling," Cub rolled his eyes slightly. I grinned from my spot in the sunbeams that came through his window and yawned widely. True enough, though it never hurt to err on the side of caution.

"Alright then. We'll see you in a month, okay?" Aya said as she came in as well. She leaned against the doorway and hugged Cub as he passed through. "Stay safe, Harry."

"I will," he replied. "And don't worry. Worst case, I always have my magic as a final trump card."

Then he exited the house, the Pride now at his side in full size, and we all traipsed into the woods surrounding the gym.

* * *

"Hey, you!"

Cub turned and looked at the young trainer that had called out to him. A quick once-over showed the the boy was younger than the young wizard, only had one pokeball at his belt, and was most likely a fresh trainer just starting out on his journey. "Yes? Do you need something?"

The kid grinned confidently. "Hey! Let's battle!"

Cub blinked for a moment, then broke out laughing. Around him the rest of the Pride did the same, pokemon version.

"Ha! That rookie kid thinks he can stand up to Cub? Cute," Glider snickered as he covered his mouth with one wing.

Cub echoed his words, "You think you can stand up to me? Kid, here's some advice- don't pick fights with trainers who are obviously stronger and more experienced than you. Stick to people who are more your speed."

The boy glared and shook his head. "Come on! You can't be that strong; you only look like you're a few years older than me!"

Cub just shook his head and suppressed a chuckle. "Age isn't a factor here, experience and numbers is. You only have one pokemon, probably a starter from Professor Rowan, right?" The trainer opened his mouth, probably to ask how he knew, but Cub just kept talking. "While on the other hand, I travel with six pokemon who are all at their highest evolution level and have years more battling experience than you. Several of my pokemon are also quite rare or come from a different region all together, meaning that whichever of the three starters you have, I have a pokemon that has both a type and level advantage over it, and chances are you aren't going to know what type it is as you probably haven't seen it before. Just face it kid: you're outmatched."

The kid shook his head in defiance and stomped his foot childishly. "I don't care! Besides, it'll give me an idea of what level I have to get to if you're a strong trainer so I can become the champion!"

Cub sighed. It was kinda cute at first, but now it was starting to get a bit annoying. "Look, I actually have somewhere I need to be, and I don't really feel like dealing with you now, so why don't you just run along and battle with somebody closer to your own level?"

The kid growled and took out his pokeball. Cub rolled his eyes and turned away, heading back along the road towards Eterna Forest. The six of us followed him, but before we had gone more than a few yards we heard the distinctive sound of a pokeball releasing its tenant.

"I won't give up until you battle me!" the little trainer yelled defiantly as he stood behind a chimchar, who wore a similarly determined expression.

"Look, it doesn't seem like this kid is going to leave us alone anytime soon, so why not just let me take care of it real quick and we can be on our way?" I offered, tail swishing irritably. Cub looked at the chimchar, then at its trainer, and nodded.

"Sure, but try to make it quick. I do want to get to Eterna Forest before dark."

I grinned ferally and padded over to stand in front of the young pokemon, looming over it intimidatingly. "Don't worry, we've got plenty of time."

"Alright. I assume you don't need me to dictate?"

"Cub, need I remind you that while in human years I am younger, I _did_ help raise you for four, almost five years or so? I'd hope that after surviving that, I could easily defeat a young chimchar on my own."

"Okay, okay, I got it."

The trainer frowned. "Whaddaya mean, 'don't need me to dictate?' And why are you talking like you can understand it? I know pokemon can understand humans, but humans can't understand pokemon!"

Cub shrugged. "Eh, that's actually not entirely true. If you've been around pokemon for a long time, and you've really learned to work with them as partners, you kind of learn to read their body language, their personalities, and such. I've been fighting and living with mine so long we kind of share a special connection. Besides," Cub smirked. "I've always been able to understand pokemon on a deeper level than most other people. Now, are we going to battle like you wanted, or not? I don't have all day."

The kid gritted his teeth and growled slightly. "Chimchar! Use ember!"

I easily dodged the weak fire attack and leapt towards the smaller pokemon with a roar, watching as its eyes widened in fear. One heavy whack across the face with my paw (careful to keep claws sheathed) sent it tumbling back, completely knocked out. I raised my head and smiled with satisfaction. That should teach him not to pick fights with trainers above his level. It may not have directly hurt him, but his pokemon had paid the price. And if he was even a half-decent trainer, he'd put his pokemon's needs before his own.

"Chimchar! You okay, buddy?" he gasped and ran over to his pokemon. Well, that was a good sign, at least. He wasn't one of those kids who saw pokemon as little more than tools to power- he was just overconfident and rash. A bit like Cub used to be, actually, before we almost had to beat it out of him.

"He'll be fine. Just spray this on his wounds and they'll heal up in a second." Cub tossed a potion he'd had in the bag to the kid. He looked up and caught it, startled.

"What? Why?"

Cub sighed again. "Look, I'm trying to be nice here. Just take it; it's not powerful enough to really heal any of the Pride all that much so it'll be of more use to you. So if you've learned your lesson, I really do need to get going. Come on, guys."

We turned and started heading down the road again, but were once more stopped by a shout. Cub groaned in exasperation. "Again? What is it this time?"

The young trainer asked, "What's your name?"

Cub tilted his head to the side and let his lips quirk into a small smile. "It's rude to ask other people's names before giving your own, y'know."

"Fine. I'm Damien Johnson. And you?"

"Harry Pride."

* * *

"Alright, you can come out now, Damien. Really, if you're going to stalk somebody, at least be a little more subtle about it. I knew you were there from the start."

The kid poked his head out from where he'd been hiding behind a tree. "Whaat?! How'd you know?"

Cub sighed for umpteenth time that day. "Well first off, you weren't exactly being quiet, secondly, you were standing upwind of me, which meant that the Pride could smell you, and thirdly, I could see your reflection behind the bush in that pond I stopped at earlier. You might want to consider getting something to cover that messy hair of yours. It sticks up so much I think it adds an extra few inches to your height."

Damien stepped out fully and crossed his arms across his chest. "Hey! I like my hair the way it is!"

Cub raised an eyebrow. "Hm. Then perhaps you consider not stalking people."

He bristled. "I wasn't _stalking_ you! I just, uh, happened to be going to same way!"

"Really," Cub said flatly.

"Yeah!"

"Kid, you are a horrible liar. Now seriously, why are you following and/or stalking me?"

Damien opened his mouth, then closed it again. He kicked at the dirt a little with his shoe and looked anywhere but at Cub. "Um… well… Iwaswonderingifyoucouldteachmeplease!" he said quickly.

Cub blinked. "Er, what?"

* * *

We ended up spending the next month just traveling all over Sinnoh, with Damien in tow. The kid tagged along in hopes of learning how to become a great pokemon trainer, and practically idolized Cub. It was actually kinda cute, but for Cub it was just embarrassing.

At the moment, we were in Snowpeak City, skiing. The numerous ice-type pokemon that inhabited the snowy peaks the city was named after kept the entire region in a perpetual state of winter, enabling one to go and ski there anytime you wanted. Convenient. And memorable, as these slopes would inevitably bring to mind the Great Snowpeak Sledding Incident from a few years ago… now _that_ was fun. The look on all those trainers' faces was hilarious.

"Hah! Can't catch me, slowpoke!" Damien yelled gleefully as he skidded down the slopes, making a beeline straight for the bottom. I rolled my eyes as he shot past my spot where I was sitting in a small copse of trees with the rest of the Pride. Cubs these days…

Great, now I feel old.

"Oh, is that a challenge?" Cub called back mischievously, a wide grin plastered across his face. He leaned forward and streamlined his body, then swerved into a side area where skiers could do tricks off of ramps or a large half-pipe. He blew past all other people and zoomed off a ramp at top speed, flying high into the air. This allowed him to gain lots of ground and land just in front of Damien, who was gaping in shock.

"What the heck! I didn't even know a jump that high was _possible_!"

Cub laughed and shot past the younger boy, weaving around all the other skiers like flags in a slalom course. Within a minute he was back at the bottom of the hill, and from my vantage point about midway down the slope I could see the large spray of snow he kicked up as he stopped. A couple other skiers shot him dirty looks as they were hit by the spray, but Cub just ignored them and looked up at Damien as he sped down the slope to stop beside him an instant later.

"That. Was. AWESOME!" he yelled exuberantly, loud enough so that we could hear him all the way from where we were watching.

I purred with contentment. Even though he hadn't intended to at first, Cub did end up taking Damien under his wing, and I think it was good for both of them.

* * *

"Whaat?! You're leaving?! Why?!"

"Because I have to go back to Kanto, remember? I told you that last week. My friends are waiting for me."

"But can't you stay a little longer? Pleeeease?"

"No. You're strong enough to take on at least the first two gym leaders easily, and isn't that why you were tagging along in the first place? To get stronger?"

"Yeah, but…"

Cub smiled and ruffled the younger kid's hair. Since Cub's height better matched boy a year or two older than he actually was, it was easy for him to do so. "Relax, you'll be fine. I can't be around forever, y'know. And besides, I know for sure I'm going to come back to Sinnoh someday, to maybe we'll meet again. 'Kay?"

Damien looked down at his shoes. He'd matured in the month he'd been traveling with us, and now had a tanned and slightly older appearance. He'd also caught more pokemon to add to his team, bringing it up to the maximum of six. The rest were sent to his PC at Professor Rowan's. Cub wouldn't admit it, but I think he was secretly proud of how far Damien came in just a single month, both in maturity and skill level. He wasn't strong enough to challenge the third or fourth gym leaders yet, but with time and training he'd get there. The kid had potential, and lots of it.

"Okay. Promise?" He looked up hopefully, milking the Puppy-Dog Eyes (learned from Devil) for all they were worth.

"Promise."

* * *

Cub's twelfth birthday passed relatively uneventfully. He had a small party attended by Mewtwo, Koga, Aya, Hermione, and Neville, whom he'd persuaded (begged) Mewtwo to bring over. The powerful psychic type hadn't been all that thrilled with the frequent inter-planetary travel, but in the end he'd grudgingly agreed. He could never say no to Cub, anyway.

His two magical friends also stayed for the rest of the summer, and the three had a great time training, exploring, and terrorizing the poor trainers that came to the gym in hopes of winning a badge. Koga, who was now an official member of the Indigo Plateau Elite Four, wasn't around as often so Aya took over. She made an excellent gym leader, especially once her venonat evolved.

Cub had also taken to dressing up in full ninja gear and popping out of random places with shuriken to scare challengers, which was hilarious to watch. I swear, one boy almost peed his pants. There were a couple Cub had to save from falling off the cliff into the gorge, though. But the challengers' expressions were always fun to see once they realized they'd just been tricked and scared by a kid either the same age or even a bit younger than them. Hermione and Neville enjoyed this as well, and even convinced Cub to teach them a few moves. While they were nowhere near as good as he, however, they were better than most Hogwarts students their age- if only because unless they were Quidditch players, most didn't get very much physical exercise at all. And if they were pureblood, they also considered "muggle fighting" beneath them. Idiots.

Anyway, overall, the summer was fun and relaxing. Cub's two friends bonded more closely with their pokemon, learned a few martial arts moves, and generally had a great time. Cub simply enjoyed being with his friends, hanging out, and relaxing after the eventful school year.

Except, until Dumbles sent the yearly school letters, which were delivered by Mewtwo (who grumbled because "what did he look like, a mailman?") that had a new rule stating that all magical figurines and animated objects were prohibited because they "disturbed the learning atmosphere for other students."

Yeah right, he just wanted an excuse to get rid of the Pride. When Hermione saw that line, she blew her top and went on a rant about how it was completely unfair and how he had no right to do that. It took fifteen minutes, Neville, Cub, and Amethyst to calm her down.

"Hey, relax, it's fine. I'll figure something out," Cub told her with a grin. "Don't worry about it. No matter what, the Pride's gonna get to Hogwarts, one way or another."


	2. Pokemon Masters Meet the Wizarding World

**ACK! I'M SO LATE! Sorrysorrysorrysorry! ****I apologize to all my readers that this was so late, because my life just got extremely busy in a short period of time with no warning. Gah, so much work... but I've got this chapter up now, so yay!**

**OH MY FUDGING GOSH 14 REVIEWS FOR CHAPTER ONE! As you can tell, I am very happy. HUGE THANKS to ultima-owner (who has been the first to review this story, so congratulations! And has also stuck with me through every chapter of Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Could-Speak-to-Pokemon), Olaf74, youwillnotstopme, King Scorpious, Nightwing 509, Guest, SilverHeart1171, KitsuneTurner, Prototron MJ Tornada, Extended Experience, Seas and Shadows, ZoeyMarieSnape, Orangefur, and Mordu for reviewing!  
**

**To ZoeyMarieSnape: Actually, I didn't think of that. Sounds like that new series by Brandon Mull, Spirit Animals. But no, I'll be doing something different.**

**Disclaimer: Nope, nope, and nope. I wish I owned them, but nope. JK Rowling and... um... who created Pokemon? I just realized I don't actually know... oh well, I'll just say Nintendo.**

* * *

"So, you're great plan is… what exactly?"

Cub grinned and held up a pokeball. Hermione blinked, looked at it for a moment, and then groaned in annoyance.

"Seriously? I can't believe I didn't think of that! It's so simple! Hidden in plain sight, and they're not pets, so the Headmaster can't forbid them… I feel like an idiot now," she said as Neville took one look at the pokeball and started laughing.

"Harry, that's brilliant! The only problem is that he's going to ask what they are, you know," Neville chuckled. "So unless you decide to tell him that they're really pokemon, how are you going to convince the Headmaster that they're not actually pets without explaining, well, all this?" he gestured to Harry's room, where the three friends were relaxing. The Pride was lounging in various locations on different pieces of furniture, ranging from Devil napping on the carpet to Glider hanging from the ceiling light.

Cub pondered this for a moment, then shrugged. "Eh, I figured I'd just tell him that I've been living in a land far away from England that's warded to most people can't get to it. And that the figurines were based off creatures from this land, my team. I just didn't tell them that before because the people I was living with didn't want me to tell them about that country, but over the summer I negotiated so that I could bring my team and tell the wizards a little bit. Think that'll fly with him?"

Hermione frowned slightly. "I dunno, Harry. It sounds a little suspicious to me, and what if he decides he wants to talk to the people you've been living with? Then you'll have to refuse, and he'll know that something's up."

I flicked an ear and lazily listened in on the conversation, then decided to add in my own two cents. "Why don't you just get Koga or Aya to talk it over with him? Even though you're now a legal adult, they still act as your semi-guardians. If you bring one of them he'll know you're not just lying about the whole thing. It would help if they mentioned that it's actually quite common for kids even younger than most Hogwarts students to carry around a team for protection, too. If they spin it right, they could make it sound like you're perfectly entitled to having the Pride here, especially if they call it part of the country's custom. And Dumbles is more likely to listen to a couple of adults than you. Plus, since Koga is now a member of the Elite Four and Aya is a gym leader, they are technically somewhat leaders of Kanto. Add in that they're both highly intelligent ninjas, and I think that would be a good way to trick Dumbles. Remember what they taught you, Cub- the best lies always have a core of truth."

Cub looked at me, then nodded in agreement. "Yeah… that's actually a pretty good idea. Why didn't I think of that?"

"Hey! 'That's actually a pretty good idea?' What do you mean? You make it sound like I don't have good ideas!" I huffed good-naturedly, cuffing the boy lightly with my paw. He ducked and laughed, reaching out and scratching behind my ear. I instantly started purring happily. Cub always knew exactly how to calm me down.

Devil snickered. "Need I remind you of the infamous Sunnyshore Power Outage? I seem to recall that one being your idea."

I bristled. "Hey! That was an accident, and besides, they got the grid back up within a couple hours. So there was no permanent damage."

Devil rolled his eyes. "Right, right. Whatever you say."

I huffed and turned my attention back to the three friends. Hermione and Neville looked confused, while Cub was laughing quietly at my expense.

"Harry, what did Thunder say?" Hermione asked.

Cub stopped laughing, but a few snickers still escaped every now and then. "Oh, he said that I should bring Koga and Aya to talk it over with Dumbles, see if they can spin to make it sound like I'm legally allowed to carry the Pride because it's a tradition of this country. Which is, technically, true."

Neville smirked. "Yes, technically. That's a pretty good idea, but do Koga and Aya have the time for it? I thought Koga joined the Elite Four, and Aya's a gym leader now. Which means that Koga would probably have to tell the other Elite Four about why he's going to literally disappear from the face of the earth for a few days, and Aya's going to have to close the gym, and… man, this is a lot more complicated than it sounds at first," he grumbled. Cub let out a bark of laughter.

"Don't worry about it, Aya won't mind getting away from the gym for a few days. And I think it would be a good idea to tell the Elite Four anyway, just in case the Old Coot or Voldysnorts somehow manages to find this planet."

Hermione nodded. "Yes, that makes sense. Also, since it seems inevitable that you and Voldemort will clash someday according to the prophecy, it would be a good idea for the leaders of this world to know, just in case."

Cub sat back and put his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. "Right, then that's settled. Now we just gotta see if Koga and Aya will agree."

* * *

"So, you're telling me that there is an entirely other planet out there populated by wizards, with no pokemon whatsoever?" Lance sat back and regarded Cub with a searching gaze, brow furrowed. His dragonite stood behind him, looking quite intimidating for such a usually kind-hearted pokemon.

Cub nodded. "Uh-huh."

"And you're also saying that you are one of those wizards, but was brought here by Mewtwo six years ago. But now you're going to this 'Hogwarts' wizarding school, and you're having disagreements with the Headmaster regarding your pokemon team. So you want Koga and Aya, a member of the Elite Four and a gym leader, to go and talk it out. And, you're apparently the subject of a prophecy regarding one of the darkest wizards in their history, but everyone thinks that it's your twin brother instead."

"Yeah, that sounds about right."

Lance stared at Cub for a few seconds, then sighed and shook his head. "How do I know you're not lying?"

Cub tilted his head to the side and smirked, then held out his hand. "Because I can do this."

A small flame sprang into existence, hovering a few inches above his palm. The Elite Four Champion jumped in surprise, then leaned forward to inspect it curiously. "Is that real?" he asked, reaching out to touch it.

Cub hastily pulled his hand back. "Yeah, it's real, so you probably shouldn't touch it. I know the first few times I tried this I burned myself, which hurt like heck. And, in case that wasn't enough proof for you, watch this." Cub closed his hand, extinguishing the fire, then snapped his fingers. Instantly Will, who had been standing off the to the side, yelped in shock. Instead of his usual, um, interesting costume-outfit, he was dressed in a glittery pink princess's dress, complete with pink heels, a tiny waistline, and a tiara. The only part of his old outfit still there was the mask, and even his hair had changed. Now it was long, wavy, and had several fancy jewels woven into it, sparkling in the light.

There was a beat of silence, then Will shrieked and began to frantically tug at the dress as everyone else burst out laughing. Spike was practically convulsing on the floor, and if I had been human I would have been doing the same thing. As it was I almost passed out from lack of air.

Lance, the stern-looking Champion, was turning red in the face as he tried to hold it back, but he was fighting a losing battle as his chuckles escaped, then turned into full-blown peals of laughter. Even Lance's dragonite was sagging against the wall, holding his stomach and laughing like crazy.

"GAH! WHAT DID YOU DO, KID?!" Will yelled, still trying to remove the outfit. Every time he took out the tiara, it would snatch itself out of his hands and settle back onto his head. Every time he unwound a jewel from his hair, it vanished in a poof of smoke and reappeared back where it started. Even when he tried ripping chunks out of the dress it only repaired itself, and the shoes just stuck to his feet like glue.

Cub wiped a fake tear out of his eye. "Oh, nothing, just a simple transfiguration layered with magnetism, sticking, and self-repairing charms. It should wear off, um… within the month, I think. I've never actually tried something like this before, so I'm not entirely sure. Don't worry, though, it's not permanent. I think, anyway."

"...YOU THINK?!"

"Hey, relax! Even if I can't fix it I know people who can. Just hold still for a minute… there we go." Cub narrowed his eyes and twisted his hands in a complicated motion, making a show of it when a mere snap of his fingers could've done the job. A cloud of smoke enveloped the psychic user, and, when it cleared, he was back in his original outfit. Though, in my opinion, that wasn't much better.

A beaming smile lit up the face of the purple-haired Elite Four member. He patted himself, as if to check if it was real, then whooped joyfully. By now everyone was calming down, though every few moments a snicker would escape in the relative silence.

Cub sat back, a satisfied smile playing about his lips. "So, need anymore proof?"

Lance shook his head. "Eh, I don't think so. I think we're all pretty well convinced."

Nods came from around the room. Then…

Every single piece of furniture, the walls, the flooring, the ceiling, even the carpet suddenly and without warning turned bright pink.

A beat of silence.

"AARRRGH!"

"MY EYES!"

* * *

Cub threw his arms out to the sides, grinned widely, and spun to face the delegation consisting of the Elite Four, Lance, and Aya. Neville and Hermione had returned a few days before, and were going to meet him at the train station. "Welcome to London!" he said. "Or, rather, a mostly-deserted strip of turf thirty or so miles north of it protected by anti-human charms and wards to rival Gringotts. My teachers helped me create it last year as a safe entry and exit point for passage between the worlds. Only people keyed into the wards can find it, much less get in. So just hold on a sec and let me add you guys' signatures, just so next time when you want to go back to the Pokemon World you don't get repelled and sent off to China or something. Or, depending on which ward you hit, transformed in a pink fluffy unicorn that dances on rainbows. Although, that one may have been accidentally nullified by the one that slingshots you to Ireland… hm. Anyway, I had the opportunity to get creative with these, so, yeah." He then proceeded to giggle slightly insanely.

Some of the adults shared slightly worried looks. "Pink fluffy unicorn?" one of them muttered, brow furrowed.

Devil leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Maybe we shouldn't have let Cub have all those donuts this morning. I think the sugar's making him act weird."

I nodded slightly in agreement. "Yeah, me too. And, also, let's never let him design wards while high off caffeine and sugar again. Agreed?"

The answer was unanimous. "Agreed."

* * *

The large entourage trooped up the stairs to Dumbleboor's office, passing the numerous talking portraits (who gossiped like crazy) and randomly singing suits of armor (ranging from Mozart's Fifth Symphony to a more modern-day pop song). Huh. Seems like somebody had a sense of humor, considering that it was several days before the term was actually supposed to start. I wondered which teacher had done that particular piece of spellwork.

Through Professors Flitwick and McGonagall, we'd managed to get an appointment with Dumbles to discuss the Pride. Apparently he was quite eager to "meet young Harry's caretakers". Which, in manipulative-old-coot-speak, translates to "I want to subtly interrogate you and find out everything you possibly know." All in the name of the Greater Good, of course.

This time, the password was "Ice Mice," another wizarding candy. I snorted from inside the pokeball where the rest of the Pride and I were located. Honestly, he had no imagination. If somebody wanted to break into his office, all they'd have to do would be to list every single candy they could think of. Chances are they'd get something and boom, into the office.

Anyway, I was getting kind of bored as I watched from inside the small capsule. So, after a few minutes in which the group went up the staircase and exchanged pleasantries with the other professors in the office (all the while warding off all subtle questioning) I took a catnap, pun intended.

Now, while the inside of a pokeball may appear tiny from the outside, the way that the capsules actually work is that they use nanotechnology to safely break down the molecules of a pokemon and then compress them into a high-density essence to be housed inside a small sphere. It's actually much more complicated than that, but that's essentially the basics. So, to me, I appeared as a miniature version of myself inside a small metal room with large windows so I could see out.

However, the interesting stuff soon came up as the subject shifted to the actual explanation. Thanks to the psychic mind-shields woven by a combination of Will and his pokemon and Cub for everyone else who lacked mind shields, Dumbles was unable to use Occlumency to spy on their true thoughts. So he resorted to the old-fashioned way- asking lots and lots of questions.

"So you are telling me that this, 'Indigo Plateau' place is where young Harry's strange creatures originate? And that they are, in fact, living creatures and not spelled objects?"

Lance nodded. "Yes, but we instructed him to act as if they were figurines because we did not want to draw undue attention to him by introducing an entirely new species of creature to this world. We feared that they might get taken away and experimented on for research, or other things like that. However, since you have added a new rule this year, we thought it best to simply ask that Harry be allowed to keep the Pride."

Dumblebore leaned forward on his desk, eyes twinkling in an inquisitive way. A grandfatherly smile was on his face, but I could tell that underneath he was curious and calculating. "And why should I allow him to keep potentially dangerous creatures in the school? They would pose a threat to other students, seeing as they already hurt young Christopher last year."

"Actually, there were no serious injuries, merely minor ones, and they were provoked first," Cub interjected. "Also, as explained before, it is a tradition for a child to get their first pokemon at age ten. From that age, the pair then train and work together, almost like wizard and familiar. Except that the pokemon are much more intelligent, some just as much as humans. To have no contact whatsoever with one's pokemon for almost eight or nine months… it's torture."

I chuckled slightly at Cub's exaggeration. He made it sound like pokemon and their trainers became soulmates or something, when in truth, most trainers only really formed deep life-bonds with one or two of their closest pokemon, usually the ones they'd worked with as young children or when the pokemon were quite young. But hey, whatever got the Headmaster convinced.

The debate continued back and forth for a little while until finally, finally, the old man sighed, sat back, and gave his consent. It helped that most of the teachers were on our side as well. And really, Dumbles had no real reason to ban the Pride now, now that he knew of our true statues. And the best part was, after going through the memories of that conversation, we couldn't recall a single instance where we slipped any crucial information. So not only had we gotten his consent, but we'd completely pulled the wool over his eyes as well.

Ha! Take that, ya fleabitten old man!

* * *

Later, the three teachers Cub respected and looked up to the most- Professors Flitwick, McGonagall, and Snape -met with us in a hidden clearing on the edge of centaur territory in the Forbidden Forest. Since they hadn't been at the meeting, they wanted to know how it went and also wanted to meet Cub's guardians as well as the rest of the Elite Four and visitors from the Pokemon World. After talking it over with the adults, it was agreed that Cub would tell them everything, the truth of everything. Including the pokemon world and Cub's true power. So, like the flamboyant wizard he was, he decided to have a little fun with them.

When the three teachers walked into the clearing, two in their feline animagus forms while the other traipsed through the bushes, their jaws dropped and they stopped dead in their tracks.

Cub, in his ninetails form, lifted his head up from where he'd been dozing in the sun and flashed them a toothy grin. The rest of the other trainers were scattered around on the grass with their pokemon, relaxing in the warm afternoon light. In total, that meant that almost 40 pokemon in total were filling up the clearing, which must've been quite a sight for the poor wizards and witch.

The two animagi professors shifted back to their human forms and instantly dwarfed their colleague, gaping at the various pokemon. Lance's dragonite looked up from where it had been napping against a tree trunk, ears pricked in curiosity. The others turned to look as well, and within seconds every eye was turned towards the trio.

Then a swirling lavender portal appeared and Mewtwo stepped out, followed by Hermione holding Amethyst in her arms and Neville with Root lumbering along behind him. Cub had arranged for them to come as well, figuring that the professors might as well find out the two other trainers in the school while they were at it.

"So," Hermione said, looking around. "Are we late?"


End file.
